“San’ Yago”

It’s been five years since Cave released Threace, and if the bright and wild percussion of “San’ Yago” is any indication, they haven’t missed a beat. Over the course of a dozen-or-so releases, the Chicago quintet has shown an obsession with syncopation and taut rhythms, channeling the hypnotic power of repetition and setting it slightly askew with funk and afrobeat rhythms. Listening to their instrumentals is like spinning in circles without getting dizzy, a kaleidoscope of friendly colors and patterns flash in an intense weave.

“San’ Yago” announces itself with a clattering polyrhythmic beat that rolls through the song like an uneven tricycle. Percolating rhythms and a perky guitar line run alongside. Cooper Crain patiently works his electric piano into the gaps, applying warm tones like a mason working mortar into a stone wall. But as the tension slowly builds, a keening synth line approaches like a sunrise, and for a moment everyone’s playing feels fuller, and the song’s colors become more saturated. Eventually it recedes, leaving just the steady prickling of that guitar line scuttling around like a crab in its wake. We’re right back where we started, but the lowering of the tide has shifted the entire landscape.